Suggestive card to teen was 'fun': priest

A defrocked NSW Anglican priest says a card he sent an alleged sex abuse victim showing a man's penis and captioned "thank heavens for little boys" was meant to be a "fun thing".

Former Dean of Newcastle Cathedral Graeme Lawrence has also denied knowing the details of cards and letters sent by his boyfriend Greg Goyette, who talked to the alleged teen victim about lubricants and "educational" videos that he may find "edifying" in the early 1980s.

The sex abuse royal commission has heard the then-teenager, known as CKH, alleges ongoing sexual contact from the age of 17 with both Mr Goyette and Mr Lawrence, who was then rector of St Alban's at Griffith.

At 19, CKH received a card from Mr Lawrence captioned "thank heavens for little boys for little boys grow bigger every day".

"It was ... an off-colour card not available in Australia in those days," Mr Lawrence testified in Sydney on Wednesday, saying the caption was a play on the Maurice Chevalier song Thank Heaven for Little Girls.

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Mr Goyette also sent cards, including one that focused on a man's penis in underpants, in which he encouraged CKH to obtain lubricants and think of him "relaxing into a similar position".

"I know it is not Christmas," the royal commission heard Mr Goyette wrote.

"But once again thought of you when I saw this little Christmas stocking stuffed full of goodies. (Almost good enough to eat!)"

CKH alleges he was 16 when Mr Lawrence entered his room, undid his fly and said: "You can have this anytime."

Mr Lawrence, who says the allegations against him are a fabrication, said he'd suspected the then curate of St Alban's, Andrew Duncan, had been having sex with CKH from the age of 15 and brought it up with the child's family.

But he told the royal commission he can't remember ever mentioning it to a church superior, saying he was more concerned about Duncan's alcoholism.

"More concerned about his alcoholism than a sexual relationship he was pursuing with a 15-year-old boy; is that right?" counsel assisting the commission Naomi Sharp asked.

"That's correct," Mr Lawrence replied.

CKH alleges Mr Lawrence invited him, two priests and a 17-year-old boy to his hotel room during a church function.

He says he had sex with one of the priests, Bruce Hoare, in the room while the other was present and the 17-year-old was passed out drunk.

It was put to Mr Lawrence that he, Mr Hoare and diocesan registrar Peter Mitchell made up a "gang of three" that protected deceased serial child abuser Father Peter Rushton.

"Totally, completely untrue," Mr Lawrence said in response.

The hearing investigating the response to allegations of child sexual abuse in the Newcastle diocese is expected to continue on Thursday.